Field of the Invention
Aspects of the embodiments generally relate to techniques concerning a zoom control device and a zoom control method for controlling a zoom operation.
Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there is known an imaging apparatus which has an automatic shutter (automatic image capturing) function to automatically perform image capturing based on information about a subject detected in an image plane during self-timer image capturing.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-124771 discusses the configuration of a camera equipped with an automatic shutter function to automatically perform image capturing in response to a subject being detected in a predetermined region during self-timer image capturing.
Moreover, there is known an imaging apparatus which has an automatic zoom function to automatically change the zoom position according to detected information about a subject using optical zoom, which is accompanied by driving of a zoom lens, and electronic zoom, which enlarges the center area of a captured image. Hereinafter, an optical zoom operation and an electronic zoom operation are collectively referred to as a “zoom operation”.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-122030 discusses the configuration of a camera equipped with an automatic zoom function to maintain the size of a subject image to a constant size. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-122030 discusses a method of performing automatic zoom control based on a reference size set with respect to the number of subjects or the position of a subject in an image plane and a selected composition in such a manner that the size of a detected subject becomes equal to the reference size.
Furthermore, with regard to the function of performing electronic clipping and enlargement with respect to a given region of a captured image (hereinafter referred to as “electronic cropping”), there is an imaging apparatus which has an automatic cropping (automatic clipping) function to automatically change a clipping region according to detected information about a subject.